Germany: Hot Spot Europe? - August 18, 2016
German exports to Russia fell by more than 26 on the year in August, the biggest decline since the financial crisis in 2009, according to data released today, underscoring the impact of sanctions on Russia's largest economy in Europe.
Exports to Russia in August were worth $ 2 3 billion, a 26-3 price down against the same month a year earlier, said the Bureau of Statistics.
For the months from January to August, exports fell June 16 to March 20 billion.
Germany is the largest trading partner of Russia in the European Union, but its exports to Russia have decreased by 2 May 2013, after the high growth rates of 2010-2012.
Some 6,200 German companies are active in Russia, which helps explain why Berlin was initially reluctant to impose sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March Germany is now firmly sanctions of EU.
Sanctions against Russia have a greater impact on our economy than any other economy in Europe, the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Bild newspaper in an interview.
However, although Germany was vulnerable to global political risks, including the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq and Syria, he said he did not think the decline forecast means we are talking about a crisis.
The decline in exports, industrial orders and production have resulted in reductions in growth forecasts for the German economy this year and next, while business and investor sentiment collapsed.
Berlin now expects GDP gross domestic product will grow 1 2 this year, against an initial forecast 1. 8
Sanctions against Russia have helped push the Russian economy on the brink of recession Russia has also implemented retaliatory sanctions against the European Union.
The German Statistics Office said that in the first eight months of the year, the machines represented 22 6 of the total shipments to Russia, followed by cars and auto parts with 19 and 10 with chemicals.
The largest drop in exports was for cars, down 27 3, followed by machinery, who have dropped 17 February, and chemicals, down 5. 9
German exports to Russia plunged 26% in August, German exports, Russia, August.